Dear Ally
I’d like to share with you a powerful article by Jonathan Kuttab, Director of FOSNA and Board Member of Nonviolence International, addressing the current situation in the West Bank.
Following the article, you’ll also find an update on the urgent and ongoing crisis facing the community of Um El-Khair.
Please feel free to share this message widely. It’s critical that more people become aware of—and take action against—the genocide and ethnic cleansing campaigns being carried out by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people.
With urgency and hope,
Sami Awad
Co-Director
Nonviolence International
Awdah Hathaleen
As the attention of the world continues to focus on the ongoing genocide and starvation taking place in the Gaza Strip, it may be understandable that little attention is given to the ongoing situation in the West Bank. Last week, two events occurred which pulled global attention, at least momentarily, back to the West Bank. First was the renewed attacks on the village of Taybeh, the last remaining Christian village in the West Bank. These attacks took place even after the visit by US ambassador Mike Huckabee to that village and his public statement that such terrorism (he actually used the word) and desecration of holy places cannot be tolerated. He demanded that settler violence be curbed or there will be consequences. There were none.
The second was the murder by a known settler of a Palestinian nonviolent activist,Awdah Hathaleen, who had been seen in the Oscar-winning documentary film “No Other Land,” and who is known to some of us as a brave nonviolent activist. His body is being held by the Israeli army who are refusing to release it until the family agrees not to set up a mourning tent and to limit his funeral to 15 attendees only! The settler who committed this murder (and who is already out on house arrest) had been previously cited by the US State Department for his criminal activities against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. He had even barred from entry to the US, a sanction that was removed by the present administration, leaving him with the correct impression that his crimes will not only be tolerated and protected by the Israeli army but also tolerated by the US so that he can continue them with impunity.
These two events and the mounting evidence of total unbridled impunity surrounding settler actions in the West Bank, together with the policies carried out by the Israeli authorities, are worthy of our attention for a number of reasons:
First, in all these activities in the West Bank, there is no “justification,” and none of the myriad excuses that Israel uses in Gaza are present. There is no rule by Hamas there to be ended. To the contrary, the Palestinian Authority is hostile to Hamas, and it actively carries out the agenda of the Israeli Occupation regarding the local population. There are no hostages to be released; there are no tunnels or military infrastructure to be destroyed; there are no missiles being fired at Israeli towns or kibbutzim; there is hardly even active resistance to the ongoing occupation, land theft and settlement activity. The Israeli Army has reported an 80% drop in “terrorist activity” such as stone throwing or mild demonstrations.
Secondly, the Israeli army, settlers and general population know full well that people in Gaza and in the West Bank are part of the same people and have identical hopes, dreams and aspirations, and present the same challenge to Zionist goals. No plans, proposals, offers, solutions or approaches are presented to them, and the long term prospects for Palestinians in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and even Palestinians who are Israeli citizens appears to be the same one being offered to Gazans. Accept permanent domination, or be expelled or killed. The “two-state solution” reluctantly mouthed by certain Israeli leaders and governments is now roundly rejected by the current government and viewed to be no longer operative. The only question is how best to control the remaining population as Israel pursues its goals of a Jewish-supremacist state, from the river to the sea.
Third, the utter failure of the international community to enforce international law and norms, or even impose any cost on the occupation, is now not only glaringly obvious but is factored into Israeli thinking and planning. Even between the so-called left and the right in Israel the only discussion is on feasibility, what is in Israel’s best interest, and how far the US will allow them to proceed in their program. Neither genocide nor ethnic cleansing is off the table. Even before Trump spelled out the plan for deporting all Palestinians from Gaza, Secretary of State Blinken discussed with the King of Jordan, as well as the President of Egypt, incentives to take in a million each of the Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza. Right Wing Israelis openly crow about the opportunity to get rid of Palestinians once and for all, if not through outright expulsion, then through genocide and permanent control in ever smaller and more crowded enclaves under the full domination and of the Jewish state.
Finally, if the world fails to put an end to Israel's actions in Gaza, what will prevent the implementation in a similar fashion of the same program in the West Bank, and even in Israel itself whose 2 million Palestinian citizens may also be seen as a threat to Zionist aims and who need to be eliminated as well.
The horror suggested in the last paragraph is not entirely theoretical. The events of the Nakba in 1948 are still working themselves out and the goal of Zionism has always been a state “as Jewish as France is French,” to be achieved, one dunum at a time and one soul at a time. The conflict for many Zionists has always been a struggle over land and demography, and for many Israelis both in 1948 and today there are divine opportunities to work on the demography, after all the land has been taken. The restrictions on Israel’s behavior imposed by international law, public opinion, fear of retaliation, and other considerations appear to be all lifted, and the balance of sheer power was always clearly on Israel’s side. Israel apparently can get away with open genocide, so why stop at Gaza?
Those of us who are horrified by the situation in Gaza need to redouble our efforts before the situation becomes even more dire, and the West Bank again comes into ugly focus. The good news is that during the past week, the horrible images of starvation in Gaza seemed to have created a worldwide desire to put an end to the horror, with even the UK, France and Canada, as well as the docile Arab countries, feeling the pressure to put an end to the outrage.
Update from the village of Um El-Khair (which actually means “Mother of Goodness”):
The body of Awdah Hathaleen is still being held by the Israeli army.
Over 70 women from the village initiated a hunger strike demanding the return of Hathaleen’s body and the right to bury him in Umm al‑Khair. His wife is leading the hunger strike.
Yinon Levi, who murdered Awdeh and was previously sanctioned by EU, UK, Canada, and the U.S. for violent attacks on Palestinians, was seen after his release (not only from prison but even house arrest) driving his bulldozer in the streets of the village mocking the community.
P.S. Our Partner, The Center for Jewish Nonviolence is co-hosting an emergency webinar that will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, August 5th) in mourning and solidarity with Umm Il-Kheir. They invite the international community to participate in this globally coordinated action in protest of the Israeli authorities and the diplomatic impunity granted by the US, UK, and EU. Please register here.
P.P.S. For donations to Nonviolence International or any of our amazing partners please go here.
Nonviolence International
https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/
Nonviolence International
PO Box 39127, Friendship Station NW, Washington, DC 20016, United States
